The Ghost in the Church
by Alan Bates
Summary: After her death, Aeris is unable to move on.


Disclaimer: I own nothing  
  
  
  
  
The Ghost in the Church  
  
  
Where am I? The church? Was it real?   
Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, the Black Materia, Was it all a dream?   
  
I reach down to my precious flowers once again. It feels like so long since I've been here. My hand goes completely through them. What's happening? What's happened to me?  
  
I remember now. I died. I should have moved on. But why haven't I? Why am I here? I should be in the Lifestream. Shouldn't I? It feels like something is stopping me. Keeping me from passing away.   
  
It's been three days now. I can't leave the church and I don't know why. Sometimes I can bee seen. Sometimes people can hear me. Sometimes both. Most of the time I spend waiting. For what, I'm not sure. The children still come and tend to my flowers. I thank them in the brief moments that they can acknowledge me.   
  
I know I'm not alive because sometimes I can't be seen or heard. I know I'm not dead because I'm still here. But am I? I remember as I died before, my body was a very long way from here. What are the chances they brought me back here to bury me? Maybe that's it. Maybe I could be alive again.   
  
If I only had my body...  
  
The children still keep me company, even if they can't always see or hear me, they know I'm here. I appreciate them more than I have ever appreciated anyone. Besides my flowers, they are all I have now. I don't even have the peace of death. I want to live again so bad. I want to die so much. Anything to save me from this.  
  
It's been over a month. I think. It gets hard to tell sometimes. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can't even cry. My body, if I could call it that, doesn't seem to be able to. I never understood how much I would miss the simple pleasures of life. The feel of bare feet on the grass. The warmth of the sun. The taste of good food, the smell of a flower. The feeling of being able to sleep.  
  
The very last moment I had alive, the Planet answered me. It's going to help. It will stop Sephiroth and the Black Materia. That's all I wanted. Didn't I do my part? Wasn't that enough? Is this all that there is for me? This shade of life existing solely in the church?   
  
I don't think the Planet knows what to do with me.   
  
I don't even know how long I've been here anymore. I've lost count of the nights and days. But today is different. I can hear footsteps. Not the children that normally come here. Not even the occasional vagrant who uses this place to find shelter from the weather. These footsteps are cautious. They're taking their time. There is only one thing I have been thankful for. Even when I can't be seen or heard, I have always been able to see and hear. And now I hear an unfamiliar female voice.   
  
"Why are we even hear? Is he, you know, trying to prove something? Or is this one of those things where we are supposed to learn something?" She's stepped into the light now. It a young girl. She's in her teens and carries a cross-shaped weapon. I don't know her. Then her companion speaks.  
  
"Let him be. He needs a chance to lay his demons to rest." The second figure comes into view. He's wearing a leather uniform of some kind with a large metal claw over his arm. If I were still alive, I'd probably be afraid of him.  
  
Then the third figure steps out of the shadows. If I still had a heart it would have jumped into my throat. Cloud! As he looks up, I can see his eyes widen. He can see me! Thank you! Thank you! Whoever's watching over me, thank you! He rushed to meet me, dropping his sword to the ground with a loud clang. Half way to me, he stops and looks around confused.   
  
"I'm here Cloud! I'm here! It's okay now! You can save me! You can bring me back! I'm not gone yet!" I'm standing only a few feet in front of him screaming at the top of what ever it is now that passes for my lungs. "All I need is my body. I'm sure I can enter it again. I'm sure. That has to be the reason I'm still here! It has to be!"  
  
Cloud's two companions walk over to him. The man in black places a clawed hand on Cloud's shoulder. Cloud who are theses people? Where's Tifa, Barret, Cid, where are all our friends at? The girl asks Cloud if he's all right.  
  
"I thought I saw ....something.....for just a minute. I guess I was wrong."  
  
No Cloud, you aren't wrong! I'm here! I really am! Please hear me!  
  
"I don't know what I expected to find here. I just felt that I should come back for some reason. Let's go."  
  
No! Don't go! If you stay long enough, maybe able to hear or see me again. Then you can save me. We can be together again. Just wait. Just wait a little bit longer.   
  
I watch Cloud start to walk out the door. He turns his head one last time before he walks out the door.  
"It's too painful....I don't ever want to come back here again...."  
  
You could have saved me.   
You could have brought me back.   
I wish I could still cry.   
I guess there is no mercy in this world after all.  
  
  
I hate you Cloud Strife.  
  
  
Please come back. 


End file.
